UP has maximum districts with high fertility rate: Health Ministry

New Delhi, July 11 (IANS) Uttar Pradesh has 57 districts, the maximum among states, with a total fertility rate of over 2.1, while 11 of them have a rate of 4, according to data released by the Health Ministry on Tuesday.

A ministry fact sheet has identified 146 districts in seven states where TFR, or the number of children that would be born per woman if she were to bear children through her childbearing years according to a current schedule of age-specific fertility rates. For a stable population, a country needs a TFR of 2.1.

Other states with a high TFR are Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Assam.

The ministry has launched “Mission Parivar Vikas” programme under which access to contraceptive methods and other pregnancy preventing methods will be itensified. As part of the programme, injectable contraceptives were launched on Tuesday.

Among the districts in Uttar Pradesh that have a TFR of four are Bahraich, Sitapur, Hardoi, Shahjahanpur, Banda, Gonda, Etah, and Balrampur among others.

According to the fact sheet, 19 districts in Uttar Pradesh have a TFR between 3.5 and 4, while districts that have a TFR between 3 and 3.5 are 28.

In Rajasthan, Barmer and Dholpur districts have a TFR of 4 while in Bihar, Araria, Sheohar, Kishanganj, Saharsa, Khagaria, Paschim Champaran, Madhepura, Purbi Champaran are the districts with the same TFR.

In Madhya Pradesh, the districts with a TFR of 4 are Panna and Shivpuri while Chattisgarh, Assam and Jharkhand do not have any districts with a TFR of 4.